Pregledni rad
The Role and Importance of Agricultural Co-operatives in Yugoslav Agrarian Policy and in the Socialist Transformation of the Yugoslav Rural Community
Vlada Ugrinčić
Sažetak
After the unsuccessful attempt at collectivization following the victory of
the socialist revolution, emphasis was laid on general agricultural co-operatives
as the basic organizational form of the socialist transformation of the rural community.
In 1957 began an intensive expansion of Yugoslav agriculture and a rapid
development of agricultural co-operatives. Until 1965 agricultural co-operatives
enjoyed exceptional social support which gave them a privileged status and monopolistic
positions in relation to co-operation and the purchase of agricultural
produce. During that period, co-operatives achieved considerable results in the
modernization of production (both on their own farms and on land cultivated in
co-operation with peasants), in the socialization of production and land, and in
the transformation of the peasant from a preponderantly natural to a modern
producer of goods, thus establishing itself as a powerful promoter of the country’s
agrarian policy.
With the introduction of the economic reform in 1965 the co-operatives lost
their privileged position and were placed in an unfavourable situation. Due to the
restrictive credit policy the co-operatives were no longer able to finance co-operation.
As a result they began to neglect co-operation and develop more and more
into socialist enterprises. Some co-operatives tried to find a way out in mergers
with major socialist farms.
The special crisis affecting the co-operatives led to lively discussions on the
development of agricultural co-operatives, and especially on the following three
questions: (1) What is a co-operative — a socialist enterprise or an association
of peasants? (2) What are the repercussions of integrational processes on the basic
functions of agricultural co-operatives? (3) What are the prospects of agricultural
co-operatives?
In the contemporary conditions, a co-operative is both an enterprise and an
association. The existing legal regulations and the conditions of economic operation
tend to over-emphasize the status of the co-operative as an enterprise. Qualitative
alterations are therefore believed to be necessary in order to make the co-operative’s
socio-economic functions more effective.
The continual development and establishment of agricultural co-operatives
— either as independent work organizations or as integrated units — are definitely
in the interest of both the social community and private farmers.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
119442
URI
Datum izdavanja:
6.12.1971.
Posjeta: 790 *